So many adventures couldn’t happen todaySo many songs we forgot to playSo many dreams swinging out of the blueWe’ll let them come true    - Alphaville It’s got late and suddenly a song comes on – your song! A dam bursts in your head; emotions and euphoria wash over you. At last! You’re taking off! Hardly any other cultural product can stir up such emotions as music. Whether at a concert, on a car journey or alone in your bedroom – the shared and deeply personal feelings we’ve experienced through music are etched into our very being. At the same time, pop music in particular is often perceived as a superficial art form, and when an emotionally charged hit is played in the theatre, it’s not uncommon for this to be done ironically. vorschlag:hammer have been telling stories on the theater ramp for 16 years, and now it’s time for a break: Gesine, Stephan and Kristofer are treating themselves to the emotions of pop for one production. Together, they put together their first joint concert, rehearse, practise the light show and are nervous. Will they manage to create an evening that is magical? From Linkin Park and Adele to Eric Clapton, the three explore the question of how and when good entertainment succeeds. They draw on both grand moments and small gestures from the canon of pop culture or from personal, late-night car journeys. They aim to move their audience and embrace the theatre of embarrassment. The ultimate goal: catharsis. With pathos and wistfulness, they celebrate what is, what was, and what might have been. They sing power ballads and play devil’s violins, sit at the drums and perform power metal. Navigating the space between concert and everyday life, lost youth, and the inevitable process of ageing, they strive to touch both themselves and the audience in a genuine and honest way. A performative concert brimming with emotion, seeking infinity and shared moments of freedom and detachment. vorschlag:hammer have been developing theater productions as a collective since 2009. In recent years, their performative narrative theater has opened up to a wide variety of aesthetic strategies, to visual-atmospheric or body-oriented works. They freely adapt existing material or develop research-based productions on ever new topics.

An overgrown urban forest in Wedding has been the home of Organisms Democracy since 2019. In this political system all living beings are citizens with equal rights and equal access to political participation. On June 6, Organisms Parliament will convene and decide on the future of the multi species habitat. Come by and join the discussion!Later: Drinks at the Selva-Bar. The artist group Club Real has been developing site-specific projects since 2000. Installations, political multispecies formats, and participatory urban development projects invite visitors to help shape alternative visions of reality.

Helmi finally takes on »Little House on the Prairie«, based on Laura Ingalls’ book and the iconic 1970s TV series! It’s wild to start a farm in the middle of nature, with a bunch of little kids and hardly any experience. There’s been so little trust in our lives, but here it’s all different. Nature is blooming profusely, the pig’s grown huge, and there are two young donkeys – unfortunately, both male. Lots of fresh air, peace and quiet. Then there’s family life and the strangers—that is, the neighbors—though to the neighbors, we’re the strangers—and there are different kinds of strangers, too; some seem to have been here for quite a while. We don’t know exactly where we are. It could be Wyoming or the Uckermark. Why are all these people here? What were they fleeing from? This new Helmi project is also going to be a radical confrontation. Watch dreams collide with reality, facts with fiction, Germany with itself. The beautiful with the ugly. We have enough dolls and songs to see us through. Joining the expedition this time is a team of people with extensive experience in extreme situations: Cora Peter Frost, Tania Elstermeyer, Silke Schönfleisch, and John-Boy, the dog. We’re approaching the walnut grove with a completely open mind! For many years, the Helmi Puppet Theater has been putting on shows at Ballhaus Ost in the Helmholtzkiez, as well as in many other (public) spaces. Joining the expedition this time is a team of people with extensive experience in extreme situations: Cora Peter Frost, Tania Elstermeyer, Silke Schönfleisch, and John-Boy, the dog.

»Epiclogue« presents beginnings, tales, histories and forms new myths. The dancers Jonathan Ibsen og Bjørk-Mynte Paulse carve out space for the queer body to be strong, visible, and dominant. The performance examines what it requires—or perhaps costs—to take up space that is granted to others. Through the perspectives of a trans woman of colour and a white gay man, they scrutinize the world they live in and put problems concerning gender, sexuality and identity into context. By rejecting the role of the vulnerable, Kjøteren og Terrieren fantasize about a speculative reality where dominant norms no longer exist. They search for possibilities in the interface between what is and what could have been. In »Epiclogue«, intimate encounters emerge, where bodies find courage and will through love, care, and trust in one another.  Kjøteren og Terrieren‘s artistic interest lies in challenging and questioning societal norms. With curiosity and an unfiltered aesthetic, they approach questions that concern us all in an untamed way. Their ambition is to engage, challenge, and create dialogue through choreography and the staging of the reality we inhabit. The show on 29.5. will be followed by an artist talk. The talk will take place in English.

Iocasta is feeling uneasy. Her son Oedipus, who has been trying to sleep with her for millennia, has multiplied, and now the whole world wants to fuck her. The father’s law no longer exists (the bastard just took off), and the Young Liberals have been challenging the incest ban since 2020. But no one has ever asked whether Iocasta actually wants to sleep with her son. Frustrated, Iocasta sets out in search of her own subject position, but instead encounters: a group of cheerleaders who no longer know who they’re actually cheering for. A polycule that desperately wants to include her. And a few young men who believe the biological body is the solution.ANTISEX explores the theme of desire in late capitalism and specifically examines the role of women: What are the downsides of a (dating) market where everyone hast to be constantly available? Why is the sex industry booming with fetishized portrayals of »MILFs«, while the real work of mothers is beind rendered invisible and devalued? And what kind of desire lies behind the anti-feminist backlash? Do we all want our daddy back? Hampel / Helbig / Kießling create theater against grand gestures. With a feminist agenda and their 4-meter-high stage set, the newly founded GbR—a type of German legal entity—enters the independent theater scene and begins by… talking about sex. Or: by challenging its status quo.

In their trilogy »Open Water«, Glitch AG explores the utopian potential of water in relation to our social coexistence across three works over three years. The relaxed performance »Liquid Bodies« marks the beginning of this series, in which four performers from Glitch AG form an aquatic community together with the audience, focusing on the theme of care. For water connects all bodies that carry water within them. Water remembers, stores, forgets, migrates, and circulates. With percussion and piano, aquaphone and liquids in and around us, we experience our watery connectedness. Water touches, bathes, permeates. We eat algae popcorn and linger, carry other bodies of water and responsibility for each other, become singing sirens, move together through space like oceanic swirls flexible in our identities, changeable, interpermeating, and empathetic. Raha Emami Khansari, Eva-Maria Glitsch, Anna Hubner, and Christine Kristmann make up the Hamburg-based performance collective Glitch AG. Since 2016, they have been producing theater and dance performances, radio plays, participatory formats, and interventions in public spaces.

A pirate radio broadcast in the restricted zone of the GDR transmits Sinti voices at night. Inside the station, a clandestine transmission develops over the years. Conversations, songs, and fragmented memories layer over one another. While outside the restricted area and the death strip shape the landscape along the inner-German border, a radio transmission emerges that never became part of the official archives.»Mitternacht. Transmission from the Restricted Zone« is a lyrical drama about Sinti life realities in East Germany during the Cold War. The production is based on interviews, archival material, and family memories, from which documentary as well as poetically fictional scenes are developed. Out of voices, sound, and archives emerges a theatrical evening about resistance, community, and remembrance. CAT Jugravu and the Rom*nja Theatre Collective / Kelipen e.V. create theatre at the intersection of performance, archival work and memory culture. Their work centers Sinti and Romani perspectives through documentary and performative forms, spoken and sung predominantly in Romanes.

A cultural policy encounter salon in two parts At the latest since the first sudden and drastic cultural funding cuts announced by the Berlin Senate for 2025, the financial situation of funding for the Berlin performing arts has become increasingly unclear. The volatile negotiations surrounding the 2026/27 double budget have added to the general uncertainty, and the discontinuation of several funding programs at the federal level has hit the Berlin scene particularly hard, as it has traditionally benefited strongly from federal funding. 4:00–6:00 pm: Impulses on the current situationFirst Round:Cilgia Gadola und Paul Hess (BFDK – Bundesverband Freie Darstellende Künste)Nicola Stillfried (Dachverband Tanz)Marie Henrion (Tanzbüro Berlin) Second Round:Dagmar Domrös (Arbeitskreis der Kinder- und Jugendtheater)Luise Würth (FAIRSTAGE)Daniel Brunet (Koalition der Freien Szene)Lars Zühlke (LAFT Berlin) Jannik Rodenwaldt (GDBA)  Third Round:Carolin Huth (AG Barrierefreiheit)Grischa Schwiegk (Gob Squad) Anne Brammen (Ballhaus Ost) Sarah Stührenberg (Berliner Kulturfördergesetz) Franziska Stoff (BerlinIstKultur) 6:00–7:00 pm: Table conversations over a shared mealA communal meal offers everyone present ample opportunities for follow-up questions, exchange, and encounters. From 7:00 pm: Open discussion with speakers and audienceTogether, we will summarize the current state of affairs and, along with our observers Arne Vogelgesang and Theresa Schütz, look for solutions and possible courses of action. An open discussion format invites both the speakers and visitors to take part. The bar will be open, and moderation will be by Alisa Tretau. FAIRSTAGE advocates for discrimination-free and fair working conditions for all permanent and freelance employees at publicly funded Berlin theatres. The goal is to pool expertise and take a targeted stand for a fairer Berlin performing arts sector. FAIRSTAGE runs various programs, including participatory formats, an annual conference, recommendation papers, and publications. In practice, diversity-sensitive work at FAIRSTAGE also means calling for and supporting continuing education, qualification, and exchange opportunities for institutions, while strengthening marginalized stakeholders in these contexts.

Back on a casual Thursday in April, YETZE Casino Nights returns for its second installment – an intimate musical treat with a focus on female voices from Berlin: Introducing her RIP Swirl-produced new EP entitled »Taste«, Maresz & band will headline this low-key Blurry Records Special that also features ronja (Roomer), who presents her recently released EP »Up With The Sun«. Additionally, Blurry founder RIP Swirl is going to play a special DJ set.  >> YETZE Casino Night #1: A Good Year (Escho / CPH) feat. Late Verlane | 21.3.

The Shimmy Shake Show is the graduation performance for the students and teachers of the Shimmy Shake School of Burlesque in Berlin. After learning from our premiere instructors, these students are dancing the art of the tease for you—some of them for the first time! Come join us for our spring special featuring go go dancers, love rituals, and more. For over 15 years the Shimmy Shake School for Burlesque has been fostering burlesque education in Berlin through emphasizing the diverse queer history of the art and its importance as a form of self expression. Through dance, striptease, and storytelling, the Shimmy Shake School has brought countless artists to the stage to enjoy and share the art of the tease.